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United States Martial Arts League
The United States Martial Arts League (USMAL) is a professional American MMA league consisting of 32 teams. The NFL's 17-week regular season runs from early September to late December, with each team playing 16 games and having one bye week. Following the conclusion of the regular season, six teams from each conference (four division winners and two wild card teams) advance to the playoffs, a single-elimination tournament culminating in the Super Bowl, which is usually held in the first Sunday in February, and is played between the champions of the NFC and AFC. The team with the most USMAL championships is ? with ?. The current USMAL champions are ?, who defeated ? ?–? at Grand Bowl ?. Founding and history On ? 20, 1995, Lincoln announced his intention to create a combat sports league. In response to questions regarding his reasoning for creating the league, Lincoln responded by stating that the league was created because he wanted to see if the "Unique and weird idea could work. Even if it made no money but it still functioned like a proper sports league than it would of have meant that I was onto something." Layout & Playing The league would have, according to Lincoln, 32 teams from 32 states throughout the United States. Each team would consist of 9 fighters, one for each of the 9 weight divisions within Elite Cage Combat. The fighters could be male or female. At least one back-up fighter for each weight division is insisted, in case something happens to the designated fighter. The teams are split into two division for their matches: USMAL WEST & USMAL EAST. Both divisions are further divided into four smaller divisions each, making eight sub-divisions in total. Each season consists of three stages: # Stage 1: Each team will fight against the other three teams within their sub-divisions once. # Knockout Stage: The top 8 scoring teams from both divisions, 16 in total, fight one another # Knockout Stage A typical match would go as follows: The winning team would be the one who claimed the most victories. A losing fighter would receive $1,000 for fighting, while their opponent would receive $5,000 for winning. An additional $1,000 would be given to each of the fighters involved in whichever match was deemed 'Fight of the Night'. The sport of Hydeball was originally created back in 1968, though Lincoln has stated that since then the sport has been drastically changed. So much so, that if Lincoln is to be believed, the only thing the current form of Hydeball has with it's original form is the name. Tryouts were on 22 February and held in each of the home cities of the 32 teams and lasted for one week, allowing for those who were undecided about trying out to do so and to allow those wishing to tryout who lived outside of the home cities. At the same time, the 32 parcels of land purchased by Lincoln for the training/games were developed and the playing courts were constructed. On March 15 Lincoln announced the players for each team and officially announced the beginning of the inaugural season. All contracted players were paid $100,000, from the moment they signed their contracts to the day after the championship match next year. For the next year the teams trained. A new professional league, the fourth American Football League (AFL), began play in 1960. The upstart AFL began to challenge the established NFL in popularity, gaining lucrative television contracts and engaging in a bidding war with the NFL for free agents and draft picks. The two leagues announced a merger on June 8, 1966, to take full effect in 1970. In the meantime, the leagues would hold a common draft and championship game. The game, the Super Bowl, was held four times before the merger, with the NFL winning Super Bowl I and Super Bowl II, and the AFL winning Super Bowl III and Super Bowl IV.21 After the league merged, it was reorganized into two conferences: the National Football Conference(NFC), consisting of most of the pre-merger NFL teams, and the American Football Conference (AFC), consisting of all of the AFL teams as well as three pre-merger NFL teams.22 Today, the AHL is considered one of the most popular sports league in North America. Overall annual attendance increased from three million at the beginning of his tenure to seventeen million by the end of his tenure, and 400 million viewers watched 1989's Super Bowl XXIII. The NFL established NFL Properties in 1963. The league's licensing wing, NFL Properties earns the league billions of dollars annually; Rozelle's tenure also marked the creation of NFL Charities and a national partnership with United Way.23 Paul Tagliabue was elected as commissioner to succeed Rozelle; his seventeen-year tenure, which ended in 2006, was marked by large increases in television contracts and the addition of four expansion teams,24 as well as the introduction of league initiatives to increase the number of minorities in league and team management roles.25 The league's current Commissioner, Roger Goodell, has focused on reducing the number of illegal hits and making the sport safer, mainly through fining or suspending players who break rules.26 These actions are among many the NFL is taking to reduce concussions and improve player safety.27 Despite the randomness of the sport and the leagues creation and therefore the lack of knowledge or interest in the sport, Lincoln was able to form 32 teams across the nation and the number of people who turned out for try-outs far exceeded the projected numbers. There are a number of reasons many believe to be responsible for this. The most well known is the championship cash prize of $75,000,000 to be divided up evenly amongst the members of the winning team. This enormous sum of money is believed to be the major reason why so many people showed interest in the sport, and still do. Another reason, also money-related, was the fact that each player was paid enough to live on, meaning they did not have to work while they trained and practiced, as they were financially secure. It has been noted that from the contract signing of the first season to the day after the first championship game, each player was paid $100,000. Lincoln has stated that from early 1988 to the end of 1989, over $80,000,000 was paid to the players. Another notable factor of the league has been the consistent level of female players. Though many did not believe in the idea of a unisex sport league, and though the league consists mostly of male players, many women have played within the league and continue to play to this day, now more so than ever. Aside from the appeal of both the financial security and the huge championship cash prize, many have attributed the consistent women's presence within the game to the nature of the game itself. Many believe that as Hydeball is a no-contact sport, the lack of player on player physical contact has led to interest by women. The league is well known for not only allowing both men and women to play, but for also being welcome to homosexuals, transgender people, and even to people that classify themselves as something else. Lincoln altered the rule in latter years to allow anyone who thinks they are a "human of any kind" the chance to try out for the league. Corporate Structure The AHL is a "single-entity league" owned solely by Lincoln Hyde-Killings. The NFL gave up the tax exempt status in 2015 following public criticism; in a letter to the club owners, Commissioner Roger Goodell labeled it a "distraction", saying "the effects of the tax exempt status of the league office have been mischaracterized repeatedly in recent years... Every dollar of income generated through television rights fees, licensing agreements, sponsorships, ticket sales, and other means is earned by the 32 clubs and is taxable there. This will remain the case even when the league office and Management Council file returns as taxable entities, and the change in filing status will make no material difference to our business." As a result, the league office might owe around US$10 million in income taxes, but it is no longer required to disclose the salaries of its executive officers.38 The league has three defined officers: the commissioner, secretary, and treasurer. Each conference has one defined officer, the president, which is essentially an honorary position with few powers and mostly ceremonial duties (such as awarding the conference championship trophy). The commissioner is elected by affirmative vote of two-thirds or 18 (whichever is greater) of the members of the league, while the president of each conference is elected by an affirmative vote of three-fourths or ten of the conference members.39 The commissioner appoints the secretary and treasurer and has broad authority in disputes between clubs, players, coaches, and employees. He is the "principal executive officer"40 of the NFL and also has authority in hiring league employees, negotiating television contracts, disciplining individuals that own part or all of an NFL team, clubs, or employed individuals of an NFL club if they have violated league bylaws or committed "conduct detrimental to the welfare of the League or professional football".40 The commissioner can, in the event of misconduct by a party associated with the league, suspend individuals, hand down a fine of up to US$500,000, cancel contracts with the league, and award or strip teams of draft picks.40 In extreme cases, the commissioner can offer recommendations to the NFL's Executive Committee up to and including the "cancellation or forfeiture"40 of a club's franchise or any other action he deems necessary. The commissioner can also issue sanctions up to and including a lifetime ban from the league if an individual connected to the NFL has bet on games or failed to notify the league of conspiracies or plans to bet on or fix games.40 The current Commissioner of the National Football League is Roger Goodell, who was elected in 2006 after Paul Tagliabue, the previous commissioner, retired.41 According to economist Richard Wolff, the NFL redistributes its wealth to all NFL teams equally in contravention of the typical corporate structure. By redistributing profits to all teams the NFL is ensuring that one team will not dominate the league through excessive earnings.42 'Teams '